No, thousands of doctors weren't indicted for pandemic-related crimes | Fact check

Chris Mueller, USA TODAY
·3 min read
10

The claim: 19,000 doctors were indicted for 'Covid crimes'

A July 16 article by Real Raw News claims thousands of doctors were recently indicted for pandemic-related crimes.

"There are approximately one million practicing physicians in the United States, and the United States Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps is holding sealed indictments on about 19,000 of them – general physicians, specialists, surgeons, emergency room and urgent care staff," the article begins.

The article goes on to cite an unnamed source to claim the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health "incentivized the offending physicians to coerce patients to get vaxxed even if the patients remonstrated against the potentially lethal jab."

The article was shared more than 1,000 times in four days, according to CrowdTangle, a social media analytics tool.

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Our rating: False

There is no evidence to support the claim that 19,000 doctors have been indicted in relation to COVID-19. The claim was made by a website that routinely publishes false claims about the pandemic and high-profile government figures.

Article published by site that frequently shares false information

There is no evidence the Navy JAG Corps, which handles the Navy's legal services, is "holding sealed indictments" against thousands of doctors, as the article claims. The supposed indictments aren't mentioned anywhere on the Navy JAG Corps' website or its social media accounts.

The article also mentions the CDC and NIH, but neither of those agencies has released any statements about such indictments, nor have they publicly acknowledged any effort to encourage doctors to "coerce" patients to get vaccinated against COVID-19, despite the article's claim.

A disclaimer on the “About Us” page for Real Raw News states it “contains humor, parody and satire.” The notice, however, is not included in individual articles on the website.

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There's nothing to support the specific claims made in the article, but several health care workers have been charged with crimes related to the pandemic.

In April, the Justice Department announced criminal charges against 18 people, accusing them of participating in "various fraud schemes involving health care services that exploited the COVID-19 pandemic." The fraud allegedly resulted in more than $490 million in false billings and theft to pandemic-related programs.

Nothing on the department's website, though, is similar to the indictments described in the article. There are no reports of any such indictments from credible news organizations.

And while the article describes the COVID-19 vaccine as "potentially lethal," the CDC says the shot is "safe and effective," while the World Health Organization says it provides "strong protection against serious illness, hospitalization and death."

USA TODAY has previously debunked fabricated stories about COVID-19 by Real Raw News, including false claims that children's COVID-19 vaccines contain scopolamine and that Russia destroyed all of its COVID-19 vaccines.

USA TODAY reached out to Real Raw News for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Lead Stories also debunked the claim.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: No, 19,000 doctors weren't indicted for 'Covid crimes' | Fact check